Wellbeing: Booze and the body: the impact

The effect of alcohol on our health is an issue that's rarely out of the headlines. So what effect exactly does alcohol have on the body?

The first part to be affected is the frontal lobe which controls control and makes us more emotional. It affects us in reverse order of how the brain matures, so makes us more childlike.

Activity in the cerebellum is slowed down, which affects dexterity. And alcohol hits the limbic system, leading to those primeval urges that make many drunks seem so Neanderthal. Testosterone drops in men – over time leading to an increase in breast tissue and reduction in testicle size – but increases in women. And because testosterone affects sex drive and aggression, the decrease can make women behave the way many men feel much of the time but have learned to control.

Faces of the opposite sex appear 25 times more attractive - which makes casual sex, with its associated health risks, significantly more likely.